Tobias Sylvester
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has denied an allegation that its operatives brutalized Nollywood actress, Helen Duru inside her house in Enugu State.
EFCC Accuses Helen Duru Of Making False Claims
KanyiDaily recalls that the actress had shared a video where she was seen covered in blood and with a fractured skull, recounting how the EFCC operatives broke into her home and took turns in beating her up.
She alleged that the security operatives spoke in Hausa and allegedly chanted “yamiri” repeatedly while attacking her until she felt fluid running down her face which turned out to be blood.
Helen said she was never a person of interest because the EFCC operatives who attacked her never introduced themselves nor reveal her crime when they invaded her residence.
Reacting in a statement on Sunday, the EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, described the allegation as “misleading” and “mischievous”, saying the actress is seeking “publicity”.
Uwujaren said Helen’s claims are “poorly written Nollywood script”, noting that the incident happened on July 21 but she decided to bring it up on Friday to score “unattainable points.”
The anti-graft agency, however, vowed that the “video will be further analyzed for more forensic details and possible legal action”.
The statement reads, “The attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been drawn to an online video trending on Instagram, from the handle of a certain “@Iamhelenaduru”, a self-styled actress, purporting, quite mischievously, an assault by operatives of the Commission.
“Checks by the Commission, however, flagged Helen Aduru, an upcoming actress, as a mere publicity-seeking player, with a poorly- scripted claim that has fallen flat in the face of unassailable facts available to the Commission.
“In her script, she was quick to include five names of officers she claimed came from the Cybercrime Section of the Enugu Command of the Commission. Characteristically, EFCC’s officers don’t wear name tags nor move around with bulldozer-shaped equipment to pull down security doors.
“Duru claimed, rather strangely, that she was assisted by a little boy, to a Police Station at 3:44 am but met the station shut. It is important to note that Police Stations are not civil service ministries that “close” in the evening. Even more preposterous is the fact that she never went back, at daybreak, to lodge a complaint.
“More poignantly untenable is the fact that her purported assault of July 21, 2022, which has not been logged nearly two months later at the Police Station is only being brought to public glare on September 2, 2022!! Such a scene could only stand in a typical Nollywood fiction series.
“Such claims by Aduru, like all other stranger- than- fiction, click-baiting, sympathy-seeking ploys, do not merit a response but for the need to avoid “silence is acquiescence” stance of mischief makers. Deeper checks on the matter only showed that, certain blackmailers could be bandying some known names in the Enugu Zonal Command to settle some scores.
“The Commission, strictly guided by its Standard Operational Procedure, would not succumb to blackmail or any sleight of hand by any character.
“The poorly-scripted video would be further analysed for more forensic details and possible legal action to dissuade those who seem to be making an industry of falsely accusing and maligning the Commission. Members of the public are enjoined to ignore Aduru’s claims. EFCC’s officers are not assaulters or terrorists.”
KanyiDaily recalls that a Nigerian journalist, Norah Okafor had also accused the EFCC of destroying her properties after breaking into her home in Aba, Abia State.
